When Quinton Aaron auditioned for the film, he was working as a security guard between acting gigs. After his audition, he left a card with his contact information and offered to work as a security guard on the set in case he wasn't selected to play Michael Oher.

Julia Roberts was offered the role of Leigh Anne Tuohy before Sandra Bullock, who turned it down three times because of her concerns about playing the part of a devout Christian. During the first couple of weeks of shooting, Bullock thought her acting was so bad she considered dropping out. John Lee Hancock had worked so hard on the project she didn't want to ruin it. However, she didn't quit and ended up winning the Best Leading Actress Oscar for her performance.

When the Tuohys are riding home from S.J. Tuohy's school play, Sean Tuohy says the "quesadilla saved our ass". According to the book, Taco Bell sales were down at one time and Sean's stores were in some financial trouble. Then, Taco Bell introduced the quesadilla and sales increased and Sean's stores prospered.

Michael Oher was an experienced football player when he enrolled at Briarcrest. He developed into a premier left tackle, and was heavily recruited by top schools in the Southeastern Conference. Oher was less than pleased by the movie's depiction of him as passive, unskilled big guy who was only barely acquainted with football. Nor was he enamored by the Forrest Gump (1994)-like depiction of himself in the film.

While Miss Sue fibs to Michael about where the bodies are stored, she is telling the truth about the University of Tennessee and its association with the FBI. The University has a facility, started by William Bass (often called BARF - Bass Anthropological Research Facility), that does study the stages of decomposition of human remains in a variety of scenarios.

The Lawrence Taylor hit on Joe Theismann happened November 18, 1985, during a Monday Night Football game between the Giants and Redskins. It was the most gruesome injury ever seen on a nationally-televised regular season NFL game. Taylor, who frantically motions for help after the hit, claims that he has never seen replays of it, and never wants to.

In the volleyball scene, after the game Collins Tuohy says to Leigh Anne Tuohy that's she's going over to Cannon's to study. According to the book, Collins Tuohy was dating Cannon Smith, son of the founder and CEO of FedEx Corporation.

While Collins Tuohy is shown playing volleyball and as a cheerleader in high school, and a picture of the real-life Collins as an Ole Miss cheerleader is shown during the closing credits, Collins also was a state pole-vault champion.

Just before Leigh Anne Tuohy enters the gymnasium before the volleyball game, she mentions Patrick Ramsey. In real life, Leigh Anne was an interior decorator for Patrick Ramsey, then a NFL quarterback for the Washington Redskins.

When it opened in 2009, it was the highest-grossing opening weekend for any of Sandra Bullock's movies, until it was surpassed by her film The Heat (2013) three and a half years later, which ultimately was surpassed by _Gravity (2013) less than four months later.

In real life, Michael Oher attended Briarcrest Christian High School. After reading the script, Briarcrest administrators decided not to allow the school's name to be used. They were particularly concerned about scenes that showed Briarcrest teachers expressing doubt about Oher's learning ability. The filmmakers still used Briarcrest's school color (green).

Both Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw have strong ties to the South. Bullock's father was from Alabama; she was born in Virginia and, after living twelve years in Germany, returned to Virginia where she was a high school cheerleader (like Collins Tuohy), dated a football player and attended college in North Carolina. McGraw was born, raised and attended college in Louisiana and loved playing sports as a kid even though he was unaware at the time that his biological father, former Philadelphia Phillies' pitcher Frank "Tug" McGraw, was a professional baseball player.

Many real college football coaches played themselves but at former schools: Phillip Fulmer (was Tennessee head coach, now out of football), Lou Holtz (was South Carolina head coach, now does TV), Houston Nutt (was Arkansas head coach, now works for CBS Sports; when he comes to speak with Michael Oher, he notes Leigh Anne Tuohy's Ole Miss cup and, smiling, giving a nod to his job as head coach there), Ed Orgeron (was Ole Miss head coach, now head coach at LSU), Nick Saban (was LSU head coach, now Alabama head coach), Tommy Tuberville (was Auburn head coach, now Cincinnati head coach).

Hugh Freeze, Micheal Oher's high school football coach, makes a cameo appearance as an Arkansas assistant watching film behind Houston Nutt. His character is referenced by the NCAA investigator as taking an assistant coaching job at Ole Miss, which is true. However, at the time of the film's release, Freeze was the head football coach at Lambuth University in Jackson, Tennessee. Freeze was the head coach at Ole Miss until he resigned in 2017 due to an escort service scandal.

Among the texts on the set-list proposed by Miss Sue are Tale Of Two Cities and Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, and Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw. All concern transformation of the protagonist into an improved person, and the latter two particularly by protagonists born in poverty.

During the Thanksgiving scene when Leigh Anne is setting the table she sets the turkey right in front of her husband. There is a moment that looks much like the famous Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving painting.

At the beginning of the film, "Big Tony" Hamilton takes his son Steven to see if he can be enrolled at Wingate and takes Michael with him. Supposedly both students are admitted, but Steven is never seen again. However, a deleted scene on the DVD shows the two students getting picked up from school, and Steven breaks the news to Michael that his father's girlfriend does not want Michael to come home with them. He says Michael is still welcome to rides, but Michael declines. "Big Tony" does appear at Michael's graduation, seated right behind the Tuohys. It could very well have been Steven's graduation also, or maybe Tony attended just to support Michael.

When Lou Holtz leans over his assistants to see the first video of Michael Oher's high school game, he's wearing an Arkansas pullover. In the movie, he plays the head coach of South Carolina. Holtz is the former head football coach of Arkansas. In the movie, the Razorbacks head coach is played by Houston Nutt who later went on to coach Oher at Ole Miss.